Putting together a franchise isn't easy in MLB The Show 21, even with a tremendous amount of experience, loads of data, and a knack for crafty deals. Teams don't have unlimited amounts of cash. As a result, gamers will have to limit their scope when trying to legitimately acquire a roster worthy of playoff contention.
There's a very simple rule when it comes to bringing up a team's win percentage: Go all out for pitchers. A solid starting lineup and bullpen mean having a chance to win regardless of the opponent. So when spending these valuable dollars, these are the ballplayers that will make the year of 2021 a year of an investment repaid in full.
10 Justin Verlander
Justin Verlander may no longer be ranked as one of the best players in the game. He still is susceptible to allowing the occasional home run, even after cruising through several innings with no problem.
However, his breaking ball is still a perfect 99, so nobody throws offspeed like he can. Talented general managers might be able to get him for cheap; he's in-between the majors and minors right now and would welcome a ballclub that wanted him in a permanent rotation.
9 Aaron Nola
As one of the biggest problems for right-handed hitters in the league, Aaron Nola would probably achieve a higher ranking if he didn't walk so many players. His control ranking is 61, which is low but fair.
Nola is still a beast and still has little problem striking out the game's best shortstops thanks to a breaking ball sitting at 97. And he overcomes walks with a stamina at 89, so he'll still be finishing games even with a higher-than-average pitch count.
8 Chris Sale
Lefty Chris Sale will sometimes hang an occasional curveball, thus opening the door to a few runs each game via the longball. His HR/9 is 54, so it's an issue that has sadly made its way into MLB The Show 21.
But that's his only weak statistic, making him a cinch for players that can handle the pitching controls. His stamina (97), strikeouts (92), and breaking ball (99) are all in the upper echelons, assuring no runner makes unless they've become a master of guessing pitches.
7 Trevor Bauer
With one of the sickest offspeed rotations in the league, Trevor Bauer's unbelievable breaking ball deserved and received a perfect 99 from the ratings experts. Mixed in with some mid-90s fastballs, Bauer is a nightmare to face off against.
Bauer's suite of three fastballs makes him a threat against lefties and righties alike. Power hitters will have their hands ringing in pain thanks to a knuckle-curve that looks more innocent on its way to the plate than it actually is.
6 Liam Hendriks
It's all well and good to have a great starting rotation, but a bad bullpen will ruin the best of starts. Liam Hendricks might be the only reliever to make the top ten in rankings, but he'll be every player's favorite person in the ninth inning.
He's especially great in yucky spots where runners are on base with no outs. He's great at forcing terrible contract with 93 ratings in hits and his strikeout ability garnered a perfect 99.
5 Max Scherzer
Max Scherzer has a tendency to make opponents, in real life and the game, look like they have no idea what's going on. His fastball hits the mid-90s while his curveball is down in the 70s.
Bolstered by a five-pitch lineup, he's extremely well-rounded, with no individual pitching rating higher than 88 or lower than 65. Without a flaw to exploit, he's a masterful pitcher against any team and in any circumstance.
4 Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole finds himself on a historic pace of strikeouts-to-walks ratio. With one of the most complete five-pitch repertoires in the league, he truly has five pitches with five jarringly different speeds.
Getting into a rhythm against Cole is an impossibility, human and AI opponents alike have to hazard a guess at the upcoming pitch and hope to get lucky. His velocity and break are both rated at 89, meaning everything is fast and unpredictable.
3 Shane Bieber
Although control has been an occasional issue for Shane Bieber, the league fears his presence on the mound. He can turn players around with some nasty breaking balls that look like fastballs. It's not uncommon for a bat to swing at a ball that ends up being a foot away from the plate.
The most devastating pitch in Shane Bieber's lineup is the dreaded Knuckle Curve. It's a known kryptonite against elite hitters and Bieber has somehow managed to get the speed on this pitch into the mid-80s while the rest of the league is lucky to throw the same pitch in the high-70s.
2 Clayton Kershaw
The baddest lefty in the league is so violent against fellow lefties that if an opposing team doesn't have at least seven right-handed bats, a loss is virtually assured. Players haven't seen this kind of havoc since Randy Johnson's retirement.
His best quality can't be put on paper. He has a signature windup that is difficult to read at the plate. And any runners hoping to go from first to second base might as well fall down flat; his pickoff move may be the best of all time. So good that he can't pick runners off because they've stopped trying.
1 Jacob DeGrom
MLB The Show isn't like Madden; they don't make a habit of giving a handful of players a perfect rating every year. Even this year's cover athlete got a 95. But deGrom's season and success on the mound demands this perfect rating.
He's the only player on this list to net a 99 in velocity. Of course, this makes his fastball the stuff of legends (pro gamers can nudge his fastball into 100 MPH range) but don't forget his slider, which makes its way into the low-to-mid-90s. When a breaking pitch is going this fast, you can virtually hear the controllers smash of gamers who try to bat against him. He's the best pitcher in the game and, after asking anybody who has played the game for a few days, they'll tell you it's not even close.